Senna Fernandes: The Identity Multiplicity from Macao

The year 2023 marks the centenary of the birth of the Macao writer Henrique de Senna Fernandes. Author of varied work, especially novels and short stories, this text focuses mainly on his book Nam Van—Contos de Macau [Nam Van—Short Stories from Macao] (1978). Our text intends to highlight the identity multiplicity of the subjects, symbolically reflected in the speeches of the narrator and the characters, as well as the relationship between self and hetero-image, questioning the identity hybridity of the characters in the stories, in a relationship with history and space. The theoretical framework and methodology used will be that of literary imagology with a focus on characters, narrators, and space, in order to uncover forms of cultural and identity representations. This text will therefore focus on the following topics: 1. Henrique de Senna Fernandes in the panorama of Macao literature in Portuguese: for a brief review of the literature; 2. Images from the East; 2.1. Processes of Self-Other relations (“mania,” “phobia,” and “philia” (Pageaux, From Image to Imaginary. In Á. M. Machado & D.-H. Pageaux (eds.), From Comparative Literature to Literature Theory [Da Literatura Comparada à Teoria da Literatura]. Presença, 48–66, 2001)); 2.2. Identity construction processes; 2.3. Affirmation of identity (essentially cultural and historical). It will be concluded that the various identity relationships between Self-Other in Nam Van—Contos de Macau reflect the collective imagination of a time and society, presenting a pyramidal quaternary structure that exposes a relationship of social and imagery power between (i) Westerners at the top, (ii) Macanese, (iii) Chinese from Macao, and (iv) Chinese from Mainland China at the bottom.